About 2 months ago my 4 year old stopped wanting to/being able to go to sleep at bedtime. She also wakes several times in the night and then gets up for the day at around 5.30am. Until now she has always been a very good sleeper and apart from a slight blip in the summer when the light evenings confused her, has basically gone to bed at 7.30 without difficulty and slept until 6.30 at the earliest for years.
She is not a child that doesn't need much sleep and consequently her behaviour during the day is also very draining. She is incredibly clingy with me, battles every single thing she is asked to do and is terrible at sharing with her little brother.
I am now sleeping in her room as it means that when she wakes she pretty much goes straight back to sleep so at least we're not all getting up and down in the night. I know this is not ideal but after around 4 weeks of 2-3 hours of sleep a night it was all we were left with.
So today she woke up at around 5.30 and has stuck to me like glue all day, even though her little brother and Dad have also been around the whole time she has even made a fuss when I go to the toilet. She has always been very close to her Dad, but recently completely rejects him and will only have me. It then took me 2 hours of sitting in her bedroom ignoring her but putting her back to bed every single time she got up to get her to sleep. By this time she is so over tired she is literally bouncing off the walls (and jumping on the bed, pulling all the clothes out of her wardrobe etc etc).
I now have about an hour before I will have to go back to bed in her room. My blood pressure must be through the roof from being trapped in a dark room with her, pretending to be calm, not being able to read or think whilst she does everything in her power to wind me (and herself) up . Then I will start it all over again in the morning.
We have tried everything. They have a very healthy diet, a predictable routine, limited screen time, lots of fresh air and exercise (v big garden next to woods). We've tried extra nurture, tough love, breathing exercises/meditation, talking about thoughts and feelings, special 1:1 play time etc etc.
I actually feel like if this goes on for much longer I will have a nervous breakdown. My husband is great but it is obviously very difficult for him too and there is a limited amount he can do to help as she completely refuses to let him do anything for her. Has this happened to anyone else, did it stop? How did you cope?
It just seems to have come out of nowhere.